Me, Myself, & Sherman too.

[Damsel13]

And did you have any normal beer?

 

[jnarowe]

nope, not a one. We drank an '06 Goulden Caruolous Grand Cru to get us started off!

 

[jnarowe]

Reef Update: Took a couple X-Mas Tree rocks over to Sherman's tonight. I am sure they will do fine there and not get picked on by his Beta, Watanabe, Srcibble pair, or even the Sally Lightfoot. :lol: Whatever the case, they have a much better chance over there than with my CBB! His tank is looking sweet.

 

[jnarowe]

I just scraped the glass on my display and had some fun with the mollies. They like to swarm my arm and bite the hair. I think they may think it is algae or something. They act almost like cleaners the way they all grab onto my arm and ride while I scrape. Still 10 of them in the tank, and they do seem to school together. While they are afraid of the other fish, they seem very unafraid of me.

Brown algae seems to be stalling. I am going to start vacuuming out all the sand in my tank. I just think it leaves too much opportunity for phosphate to bind, and I want to lower my Vortechs and blow under the rocks.

My overflow is propagating valonia and aiptasia like mad...so much for all the peppermints! I think they like small snails more than aiptasia.

Sherman's tank bottom is absolutely spotless. I know coraline will cover it, but I am toying with the idea of encouraging polyps to grow on the bottom pane and create a carpet. Anyone have any input on that?

Also, anyone know how to remove the felt from a Hammerhead magnet? The refill kit comes with a new piece of felt, but I can't figure out how to attach it. Both of mine are about rubbed off!

Got an out-of-town visitor coming for a couple days...got beer? :badgrin:

 

[dhnguyen]

Yes you could grow polyps on the bottom as a ground covering of sorts. I've seen tanks with that and they look really nice. Only thing is you have to be careful that the polyps (especially GSP) don't run rampant and start shooting up the rocks as well. I am considering doing that with GSP myself on the 125g whenever I get around to setting it up.


D.

 

[jnarowe]

I wouldn't use GSP. I would use zoanthids and palys.

 

[dhnguyen]

With zoas I don't think you'll have much luck getting them to spread on the bottom unless there is heavy coralline on the bottom already. At least in my experience, zoas will only attach on rocks or a calcified surface.

 

[jnarowe]

interesting. I was wondering about that, but really the bottom will cover with coraline quick enough. I know Sherman had some growing on one of his tank walls, but I think they were on a rock glued to the wall.

 

[jnarowe]

come on Don...what's up with your build?

 

[dhnguyen]

Not much to update bro. I have been crazy busy with work and haven't really had a chance to finish up the tank. All's left is finishing up the lighting and figure out something for a sump.


D.

 

[jnarowe]

Went to Portland yesterday with Sherman to check out the NorthWestern Coral Farmers Market and was a bit underwhelmed. I don't know if it was the first time for this event but it felt like it. It was almost 100%SPS so that was fine for us, but I imagine other reefers may have been disamyed by that. Also, "frag" events tend to attract reefers looking for deals and these were mainly specialized coral frags and fairly expensive. All the vendors that were there were very nice and eager to talk with visitors.

I did pick up a couple of nice little frags from Tyree who was very friendly, informative, and the most eager to make good deals. I got a nice baby blue mille and a cyphastrea ocellina for a total of $90 and both look stunning under my 20K lamps. They made it through dip/acclimation with no problems, and the quality of Tyree's frags was very evident.

My favorite quote of the day was while looking at a tank with 50+ frags in it Dang said, "I have all of these but that one, so I'll take that one." He cracks me up!

Sherman and I visited with Steve Weast before the Farmers Market yesterday and also met up with Dang there. We were truly amazed at Steve's tank recovery in such a short time.

The fish looked great, anemones healthy and happy, and lots of great coral colonies. Although Steve will downplay his tank... his talent truly shows in what is a fabulous reefscape. The "colony" I gave him is actually one of the smallest in the tank!! He has also kept alive the beautiful purple polyped monti frag that was all that was left of a nearly dinner plate sized piece after a month of battling STN in my own system. My policy is to frag colonies soon after inroduction into my system in the case of an "event" and I was glad to send this one back with Steve. One day I will get a piece back! You can see pics here. His cold water tank "experment" is coming along very nicely and are quite impressive.

We also followed Steve over to Upscales and we were really impressed. This is indeed the best LFS I have seen for SPS and worth the drive to Portland alone.

 

[jnarowe]

I forgot to mention that I picked up a nice pink mille and what I think may be lavender stylo but I am not sure of that. They have been doing well and recently got moved up about 8" from the bottom.

And Don, that "frag" I was saving for you is now officially a colony. It has completely encrusted its base and is attaching to the rock, and according to the prices at the Coral Farmers Market is worth about $70! :lol: Better get your act together!

 

[SharkReef]

Is that the Mille that you got from me? I would love to see a picture of it.

 

[jnarowe]

Hey Eric...yeah, I meant to write that. It looks great but getting a pic will be tough right now. Got to clean my tank. It seems to be doing quite well though and with the baby blue one they will make a nice combination I think. Like a boy and and a girl right? :lol: I am thinking about inter-twining them but I am not sure if they will sting each other or get along.

That baby blue mille Tyree frag is so small I can't even get a pic of it for about 3 - 4 months I am sure. It's not even branching yet. I watched Weast buy a Tyree sunset monti frag half the size of a postage stamp for $90, and Steve thought it was a good deal!

 

[jnarowe]

As some of you know, I have been having some difficult medical issues so I needed a laugh...From my Mom...


THE MIRACLE OF TOILET PAPER

Fresh from my shower, I stand in front of the mirror complaining to my husband that my breasts are too small. Instead of characteristically telling me it's not so, he uncharacteristically comes up with a
suggestion.

"If you want your breasts to grow, then every day take a piece of toilet paper and rub it between them for a few seconds."

Willing to try anything, I fetch a piece of toilet paper and stand in front of the mirror, rubbing it between my breasts. How long will this take?" I asked.

"They will grow larger over a period of years," my husband replies.

I stopped. "Do you really think rubbing a piece of toilet paper between my breasts every day will make my breasts larger over the years?"

Without missing a beat he says, "Worked for your butt, didn't it?"

He's still alive, and with a great deal of therapy, he may even walk again.

Stupid, stupid man.

 

[Damsel13]

Oh my goodness gracious!!!! He's a lucky man.

 

[jnarowe]

Well my thread on RC has split again at an inopportune time as I was in the middle of discussing some issues I have been dealing with and an evolutionary shift in the way I am managing my reef system. Rather than repeat it all here (because I am sure that is annoying to some people), I would suggest anyone who is interested to check it out over there.

 

[jnarowe]

And since I am screwing around on the boards instead of working how about a couple new pics?

4 Days of Nog in a 6g bucket. The shot is distorted so just to make the numbers correct, it is about 4.5g in the bucket, and I lifted it without killing my back! Yay!

And a shot of the foam off an Octo modded by Sherman:

I have to clean the neck on the Octo just about every day. I guess I should be posting these shots in some skimmer geek threadS, but maybe they can hear me if I shout:

SCREW YOU A-HOLES!! YOU DON'T KNOW SQUAT. :lol:

Alert: I have a new baby GBTA, about 5 - 6", very healthy, and ready for a new home. Let me know if you want to trade something for it!!

 

[jnarowe]

Well how about a quick update??

I have been battling a brown algae issue that has over-taken my tank and based on my observations, it was due to multiple things happening at the same time that tipped the balance of the system on its ear. As I believe I have already posted, my RDSB had reached its capacity and so Sherman and I ended up removing all the sand.

I just put fresh sand back in a couple of days ago, and started dosing sugar. While this is going on, we have rigged up a 50 foot vacuum hose system that is working very well. Yesterday We vacuum out a bunch of sand from the display and our method consists of getting the siphon going with a shop-vac, then disconecting the hose so it will run free. I vacuum the sand until the sump is nearly empty and air bubbles start filling the display, and then I re-fill the sumps with fresh SW.

Although this method is time intensive, it will allow me to remove ALL of the brown algae without having to deal with floss/socks etc. and I feel the water changes can't hurt either. I am only getting about 5 - 8 lbs. of sand with each refill, but since there is only about 60 lbs. of sand in the system, it shouldn't take too long to get the whole display BB.

The sugar dosing has definitely had an immediate impact on the algae, as within 12 hours it started to turn white and die off. I am not sure if the white is actually bacteria consuming the alga, or what, but I am very pleased with the results.

On a personal note, Sherman and I marinated our beef ribs in a beer, Chocolate & Espresso meat rub, Norwegian mustard, Habanero sauce, salt, chopped garlic, and spices...it was freakin' awesome, especially since it was matched with some great beer, 3 Olives, and UFC 75

 

[jnarowe]

So I lost a third coral in as many weeks. I guess I could call this a slow-burn crash. Although the tank looks better, I still see corals slowly suffering, while others seem unphased.

I vacuum out some more sand and will change the Rowa and carbon tomorrow.

On a more positive note, I forgot to turn off the water flow when I opened my skimmer for cleaning today...